The Apothecary Diaries S2 Ep 16

It’s finally happening~ all of the little mysteries building up to this moment has been pieced together! Maomao seems to have figured out where the source of knowledge regarding the all these dangerous substances for pregnancies been coming from.

And it’s all thanks to Luomen returning to some of his old habits he did when he previously worked in the Rear Palace: Setting about to post notices of awareness of substances to avoid. Don’t use whitening powder with lead in it, avoid strong scents, don’t pick plants in the rear palace without permission…, Luomen’s doing this with the good intentions, but as Maomao quickly realized: All it takes is one person with malicious intent to read between the lines that those are dangerous substances that can be weaponized. However while she was talking about this with the old eunuch who was reminiscing about the old days when he worked alongside Luomen, he made a point about the new eunuchs have been moved to work with the older court ladies at the clinic. That made Maomao sniff something was amiss when she realized that those women are a special exception from the rest, who routinely get switched out every two years.

The answer: They are the past victims of the previous Emperor. Shenlu revealed most of the ladies working at clinic arrived at the rear palace around the age of ten, and with no one waiting for them and unable to leave after being deflowered by the Emperor, they are stuck there for there rest of their lives. As result, Maomao fears it had really become a place of festering resentment of the past, spilling over into the present, being the source of knowledge and providing the resources behind the cases of aborting and endangering the newborns and their mothers. Maomao knew that it’d be dangerous to press further, but unfortunately just by going to the clinic to address her uneasy feelings is what got her trapped in the first place.

And really, one she held the conversation with Shenlu, Maomao’s situation was a done deal. It’s clear that Suirei had been quietly hovering around, ready to pounce once she had tried to leave, because as she pointed out: Maomao had been able to connect the dots.

What further solidified it however was when Maomao came across Suisui’s insect book. Servant girls don’t generally know how to read and write. And to have access to this much paper for making an entire textbook about insects also difficult because paper is expensive. And as if that wasn’t suspicious enough, the convenient timing of Suisui being presented as a hostage by Suirei.

Suirei has made a demand to Maomao: Leave the Rear Palace with them, and in exchange she will tell her the secret behind the ‘Resurrection Medicine’. Though honestly, I do have a to laugh a bit. The Suisui being held hostage was obviously served as extra leverage to use against Maomao, but the offer to learn about the resurrection medicine alone could have been potentially enough to get Maomao to tag along– just because it’s that big of a deal to her. After-all, she’s been thinking about it non-stop. She’s dying to know about it!

The transition from the shift from scenes was admittedly jarring between the confrontation with Maomao and Suirei, to a meeting between ng Lakan arranged between himself, the imperial younger brother, and Shihoku. But I say the pay-off was totally worth it!

For all his eccentric nature, Lakan really is the shrewd Fox of the West. The simple gathering was really for the purpose of interrogating Shihoku (who was the host during the attempted-assassination incident) about how did the feifa, a weapon from the west, fall into scoundrels hands? Then Lakan did he usual crazy antics, creating a shift in the mood by gushing about his wife’s Go plays and right after that- sets the trap: Making a point about juice being red, when in-fact, it’s actually green. This unsuspecting trick revealed Shihoku’s color-blindness— a heritage trait of the Founding Mother of the Nation, (recall: Shrine of Choosing). God damn, well played Lakan.

And if that wasn’t a crazy play alone, we also got to see he wasn’t the only one playing tricks on their opponents. It turned out the one hidden under the mask this time was in-fact Lady Ah-Duo, who was standing in for Jinshi because Maomao had gone missing. I’m sure there were some viewers who were caught off-guard with the tone of voice, especially since Jinshi really does look just like Lady Ah-Duo. Truly a splitting image.

Maomao has been reported missing and we have no clue where she is at the moment (well I do, but you guys will have to wait another week haha). Needless to say, talk about bad timing considering both Lady Gyokuyou and Lady Lihua are close to their due-dates. Thankfully had been granted permission to work in the Rear palace again, so at least she won’t have to stress too much about them since she knows they are in good hands!